Amid the ongoing coverage of the horrific earthquake in Haiti and today’s special Senatorial election up in Massachusetts, was this little gem that made the rounds on the cable news networks as well as the Associated Press and even got some love over at Jezebel.com:
“AP – Chart shows financial gains of married men vs. unmarried men.
By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer
NEW YORK – Historically, marriage was the surest route to financial security for women. Nowadays it’s men who are increasingly getting the biggest economic boost from tying the knot, according to a new analysis of census data.
The changes, summarized in a Pew Research Center report being released Tuesday, reflect the proliferation of working wives over the past 40 years — a period in which American women outpaced men in both education and earnings growth. A larger share of today’s men, compared with their 1970 counterparts, are married to women whose education and income exceed their own, and a larger share of women are married to men with less education and income.
“From an economic perspective, these trends have contributed to a gender role reversal in the gains from marriage,” wrote the report’s authors, Richard Fry and D’Vera Cohn.
“In the past, when relatively few wives worked, marriage enhanced the economic status of women more than that of men. In recent decades, however, the economic gains associated with marriage have been greater for men.”
The article goes on to discuss current marital rates, giving particular attention to how it all breaks down racially; it perhaps comes as no surprise that while current marital rates for Whites remains well over 60%, for African Americans the rate barely touches 45%. In both groups, marital rates are continuing to slip, and the root causes behind the article above, clearly spell out why.
The “Mancession”-what some pundits and talkingheads refer to the current economic downturn-is so named because the overwhelming majority of job losses have taken place in the sectors of the economy Men dominate, namely the “hard” areas of manufacturing and construction; some 70-80% of ALL job losses have been Male.
Meanwhile, as we’re constantly reminded by the Chattering Classes-of which Maria Shriver, author of the much-heralded report “A Woman’s Nation” belongs-things couldn’t b better for the Ladies. Not only are more them employed at present, but many are gainfully so, primarily to be found in the Professions of Education, Healthcare and the like, almost always tied into some kind of governmental apparatus-which means great pay, stellar benefits and job security at a time when such an animal, if it hasn’t gone entirely extinct, is certainly a rare bird. Not bad work if you can get it.
The above article brings home what many in the Manosphere-and by that I mean both the MRA and PUA ends of the spectrum here-have been talking about for at least the past year, if not longer. What will happen when all that the Feminists have wished for, actually comes to pass?
We’re about to find out.
The noted article above clearly speaks to a harsh economic factor on the ground-that if you’re a single guy in the year 2010, you’re best bet from a purely economic standpoint, is to be hitched, because its likely that your spouse makes more moolah than you. On the other hand, if you’re single and a guy these days, you’re really kinda up against it, unless you rolling like Richard Branson.
No matter which side of the issue you fall on, the fact remains that things have indeed changed on the social gender landscape-and let’s give the Ladies their due-for whatever reason, they went on to school and got the jobs. Guys, by and large, didn’t.
So, this begs a whole host of questions, and not necessarily the ones you might think. How will Men respond to this much changed landscape? And perhaps more importantly-how will Women???
That’s what this essay seeks to explore, and hopefully answer.
First, let’s again consider the facts on the ground: a clear majority of job losses over the past few years, have been Male in nature. Not only is this trend likely to continue for at least another year, but when the “recovery” finally does begin, it will do so in a way radically different than we Americans are used to. That’s because many of the jobs lost during the “Mancession”, will NOT be coming back. The economy, says a number of pundits, is likely to contract a bit, part of the ebb and flow nature of the Markets; and during such a process, it’s not uncommon to see some jobs or sectors of the economy permanently lost.
For the fellas, this will be a painful thing to endure indeed. But it also opens a new door of opportunity, too. They will have the chance that their dads and grand-dads didn’t have-they will have the power to choose what being a Man means TO THEM. They will no longer be hidebound to what anyone who has eyes to see are clearly archaic notions of Manhood are, and can forge a new path for themselves. For some, it will mean moving into another sector of the economy; for others, it will be a time of inner discovery and outer adventures; and for still others, it will be a time to strikeout on one’s own in that small business venture, or that pursuit that they had denied themselves for so long. Sometimes, in order to go two steps forward, you have to take a step back, and in this regard, and seen in this light, the “Mancession” ain’t such a bad thing afterall.
Of course, I’m putting the best possible spin on things, one because I’m an optimist, at least most of the time, and two because, as Nature’s Guniea Pigs, we guys always seem to get it together and adapt to the changes on the ground when we have to.
So, despite all the spinning we hear by the pundits, I’m not really all that concerned about the guys-its the gals that have me a bit concerned.
And here’s why.
We who study Game and by extension, Evolutionary Psychology, understand well that contrary to popular opinion, it isn’t Men who have a hard time adjusting to change; it’s Women. “How do you know this, Obsidian?”, you ask? Simple. As I’ve noted above, it is a scientific fact that the Male of the Human species is Nature’s lab rat-we endure far and away more changes, exposures of all kinds to extremes, you name. Women, the Females of the Human species, do not-in fact, when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. She is the conduit through which Human life continues on the planet; she MUST be stable for this to occur, Human pregnancy and birth being precarious as it already is.
This explains why one is far more to find more super achievers as well as colossal failures among Men than Women as a rule, just for starters. In almost every field of human endeavor, Men are more apt to go to extremes than Women, for better and for worse. Women as a rule, tend to “clump” in the middle of the scale, on a whole host of issues and in a whole host of areas. Kinda rare to truly find Feminine outliers of any stripe.
So, what does this have to do with the topic of this essay? Well, we’ve been fed a steady diet of “social constructionism” by our Feminist Sisters, for the better part of at least three decades now-that any differences between the sexes, is purely arbitrary, part of the dreaded “patriarchy” that seeks to keep Women in particular underfoot.
The current social landscape, is about to submit A Woman’s Nation to what I like to call the Acid Test of Truth.
We will soon find out if indeed Women are completely cool with Men *enmasse* not earning, or as prestigious, or as educated as they are. We’re about to find out how Women like being the higher and in many cases, the sole breadwinner in the home (Jezebel.com makes clear what it stands on this point; they lambasted the article quoted above as no good louts trying to mooch off of Sugar Mamas). We’re about to find out if Women really mean it when they claim that “character” is as important in a Man, if not moreso, than the thickness of his wallet. And we’re about to find out if Women truly are the more flexible, amenable and reasonable sex.
Game informs this Gentleman, that the answer, in aggregate insofar as Women are concerned, is a big fat NO, they ARE NOT as “progressive” as they would like to have us believe, or even believe themselves. Not only do we have tens of thousands of years of evolutionary hardwiring to contend with here (and which I have discussed in detail elsewhere), but today’s current times *demand* that a Woman have high expectations, not just for herself, but especially for her Man. And paring back those expectations, will be all but impossible for many Women to do. Particularly those who fall in the 20-30 something age cohort, highly college educated, and are considered “pretty”. They simply will not settle for anything less-so they will find themselves, in a post-Mancession world, increasingly alone.
I have always questioned the logic, if one can call it that, of Feminist thought along these lines; I know Women just a bit too well to be taken in for such a ride. For those Women who fall outside of the groups I mentioned in some kind of way, making the transition in our time will not be so daunting. They will have realized the changes on the ground and made their peace with that, choosing to make the best of it. They’ll find that there’s more to a Man than what he does, or went to school, or how much he makes. That you can’t buy compassion, or passion for that matter, someone who likes you in the skin you’re in, and who’s a witness to your life. In a word, they’ll learn to settle-as scores of millions of Men down through the ages, on the hunt in the Game of Love, have done.
But for the Entitlement Class of Ladies who still live in a kind of bubble, the realities that this article speaks to will be a rude awakening. A kind of Dead Reckoning that can truly be horrifying to contend with, and I fully expect the incidences of emotional and mental illnesses among Women to go up in the coming months and years as a result of all of this, no joke.
You heard it here.
Now adjourn your confused and befuddled asses…
The Obsidian
